Courier firm delivers new BT contract

SCOTLAND’S largest independent courier company has underpinned its future by renewing one of its biggest contracts.

Eagle Couriers has signed a deal worth around £1.5m with BT to provide services across Scotland until August 2010 – with the option of extending to 2012.

Director Jerry Stewart said: “We’re delighted to have secured this deal with BT as it is a substantial contract and shows the trust built up over a number of years.

“It also shows how forward-thinking businesses are increasingly using couriers in non-traditional ways.”

Eagle Couriers has worked with BT for eight years but went through an exhaustive procurement process to renew the contract, which sees its courier staff collect and deliver key parts and repair kits to engineers in the field.

Jerry added: “They want highly-skilled engineers doing what they do best – not sitting in a van driving back and forward to depots to collect the parts they need.

“Having us collect and deliver those parts is a far better use of everyone’s resources and has proved extremely cost effective and efficient for BT.”

Eagle Couriers has thrived in a competitive market by driving up service standards. As a result, businesses such as printers and legal firms which traditionally relied on courier services are now being joined by firms which typically did not use couriers in the past.

These days staff deliver items including medications for patients being treated at home; transport bus and lorry parts between garages and engineering workshops; ferry vital medical and veterinary samples around the country; and ensure TV sports footage and even comedy scripts are safely transported across Scotland.

Jerry added: “With guaranteed service levels and highly competitive charges, more and more businesses see the merit in using professional couriers to ensure their important material – no matter what it is – arrives at the right place at the right time.”

Since it was the subject of a management buyout in 2005, Eagle Couriers has seen turnover increase by 8% and now employs 85 people between bases in Glasgow and Edinburgh